Scientists in Iceland have warned that one of the world's largest volcanoes could soon erupt with such force that it could affect the global environment.

Monitoring devices on the massive Katla volcano, which has a crater covering 6.2 miles, have detected an unusual amount of activity prompting experts to issues warnings that Iceland could soon witness its biggest volcanic eruption in a 100 years.

"There have been more than 500 tremors in and around the caldera of Katla just in the last month, which suggests the motion of magma. And that certainly suggests an eruption may be imminent," Ford Cochran, National Geographic's volcano exert on Iceland, told the BBC.

The volcano is also due a major eruption, having last blown its top in 1918.

A powerful eruption could have serious consequences for both Iceland and the world.

In 1783 an eruption on the volcanic system to which Katla belongs to killed one fifth of the Icelandic population and half the island's livestock.

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"Folks talk about a nuclear winter this eruption generated enough sulphuric acid droplets that it made the atmosphere reflective, cooled the planet for an entire year or more and caused widespread famine in many places around the globe," said Mr Cochran.

An eruption could also trigger significant flooding in Iceland as it would melt the huge glacier that now covers the volcano. But scientists also said that despite its increased activity Katla may remain dormant as predicting an eruption remains an inexact art.

Straddling two tectonic plates Iceland lies in one of the world's most active volcanic areas.

In 2010 a huge cloud of ash dispersed by the Eyjafjallajokull volcano brought severe disruption to European air traffic.